19 December 2010 is a special day for me and my family. Today my father would have become 100 years. He passed away in 1974 at 64.

My daughter and I wanted to visit my 86-year old mother in Soestdijk today. But the Netherlands is snowed in. The car and train drive from Amsterdam were too risky today. So we were on the phone to exchange memories.

After having paid into a pension fund for 41 years my mother gets only 117 Euro pension per month on top of her old age pension from the Dutch state.

My mom